THE JOURNAL & TOPICS NEWSPAPERS | WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 11, 2006

City Makes Final Offer To Summit

By DWIGHT ESAU

Journal Reporter

If the success of the Uptown redevelopment in Park Ridge is judged by pain and suffering, the project will be the greatest improvement on earth since the dawn of time.

While construction proceeds on phases I and II of this $120 million project, closing on the land sale for Phase III sits and waits the outcome of the Summit Square lawsuit against the city and PRC Partners.

There were two major developments in the last week regarding Target Area II:

* The city and Summit Square have stopped negotiating a potential out-of-court settlement of the lawsuit. "The final offer has been made (by the city) and Summit is still considering its options," City Mgr. Tim Schuenke said in a memo to Mayor Howard Frimark and aldermen on Jan. 6.

Lawyers and officials from both sides met several times in December without resolving Summit complaints that the redevelopment plan will harm the retirement facility, traffic and safety-wise.

* While PRC says it has four signed leases for about 20,000 square feet of retail space in the project, it has reduced the total commercial square footage from about 89,000 to 74,000, and substituted bigger condos in their place on the second floors of mixed-use condo-retail buildings.

The demand for second floor space by retailers is almost non-existent, PRC reportedly told the city.

But city officials aren't so sure. They have asked for, and received, a list of more than 70 retailers to whom Mid America Management officials spoke about Uptown in the last few months. They city plans to call 25 of them and get first-hand information about the second floor options.

"We also have asked PRC to completely re-work their figures on the financial impact of this reduction, so we all are on the same page regarding whether this is a good idea or not," Schuenke said. "We will provide that to you (aldermen) for our Jan. 23 meeting."

Already signed on are a 15,000-square-foot specialty grocery store, two restaurants, and a children's clothing boutique, according to Mid-America sources. At least a dozen other retailers have expressed strong interest in Park Ridge and are negotiating with Mid-America now, the leasing agent firm says.

Meanwhile, a ruling on the city's motion in court to dismiss the Summit Square lawsuit is pending later this month.

And so continues the struggle to unchain this project from the many obstacles that are slowing its progress.